To the OP - give Dan Hale at Shifter Bikes in South Yarra a call - brilliant wheelbuilder and can access most components being discussed. The A23's are getting a bit harder to get as production has left Australia.

Ksyriums have a real hold here in Australia - just about every second bike has them and they have very high kudos and acceptance. Conversely handbuilts are quite rare - rarity of good wheelbuilders is certainly a factor.

I presently have some Kysrium SLR's (love the black rims and braking performance) and also Fulcrum Zeros. The Fulcrums are a MUCH nicer wheel - beautiful hubs, compliant vertically but stiff laterally. Conversely the Mavics are harsh vertically and softer laterally and the hubs are not in the same class.

Shipping from US is a killer unless you deal with someone who gets bulk discount - a wheelbox exceeds USPS dimensional limits which means international shipping company - which means $200+. Bulk discount rates get down to around $70.

That said, I think the concerns over Ksyrium spokes is overblown. I trashed a spoke in my Ksyriums a couple years ago. I went to my LBS expecting to have to wait a few weeks and pay $25 based on what I read online.

I was wrong.

My LBS had a whole bag of Ksyrium and Crossmax Spokes in stock. They cost about $6. My wheel was repaired in a couple of hours.

I mentioned how online everyone complains about how hard it is to get Kysrium spokes. The LBS owner's response was that Ksyriums are some of the most common wheels out there and any good LBS should really keep the spokes in stock. And this is a very small shop that mostly does repairs and sells used bikes to college kids.

They've often had a bit of a trashing here, but yes, they are a bit of a rite of passage for many of us. I've owned (ie raced and trained) on:

Original 2000 vanilla versions (which I still use as turbo or winter wheels incidentally)2001 SLs (the first scalloped rim versions. Sold with my C40)2004 SLs (the silver ones - provided by LBS when an experimental pair of old 404s literally fell to bits. Sold with my 585)2006 ESs (still my regular training wheels).

Yes they are a bit harsh, but I've never had (and have never known anyone else to have) a problem with them. The only things I've found in preference (as a 65kg climber) are the 7850 CL 24s that are my more regular ride now - and I broke two spokes on my first set of those.

That said, you probably could put something better together - at least in terms of lightness and aero. If you go for it, I'd suggest avoiding the alu bodied Tune rear hubs though.

It seems to be a rite of passage for all cyclists until they know better?

Well, yes, me. I had the good fortune to pick a pair of Eurus Carbon as my everyday wheels back in 2005 (or thereabouts) and the only thing I regret is that I was stupid enough to sell the things.

Yet, years later, I did get lured into the Ksyrium marketing and bought a set of second hand current Eurus Tubular with the infamous aluminium spokes which turned out to so harsh that I decided to sell them asap.Thought Campa would know better than copy a commercially successfull design like this and whilst they actually improved it, it was still not my kind of wheel though....

I'm going to put it out there that wheelbuilding is not an art and that there are, in fact, hundreds, if not thousands of perfectly capable bike mechanics in Australia who can perform this basic mechanical task.

I am completely baffled by this strange 'mystique' that wheel builders try to build around themselves and the consumers who think that wheel building is actually difficult to do. It is a basic mechanical task. My 16 year old brother rebuilds the wheels on his jump bike atleast twice a year due to dented rims. The people who think it is a difficult thing to do tend to be the kind of anoraks who don't actually know how to work on a bike. I printed off the sheldon brown page on wheelbuilding, told him to read it and gave him a 20 minute lesson. I fixed his mistakes the first time and now he can replace a rim in 45 minutes, perfectly, every time.

No idea as far as brisbane, but I can recommend atleast a dozen 'wheel builders' in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra if you'd like to PM me. Alternatively you could buy $150-200 worth of tools, an old, shitty 32h wheel to build and rebuild a few times. Then you'll have the process down and be able to do it yourself. Easy as pie.

I would honestly just ask around, but generally stores with a bit of a focus on MTBs have the better mechanics when it comes to wheel building, as an aggressive rider will generally need to replace rims a few times a season.

@rico - good to hear of your back catalogue there. 10 years ago the only cyclists worth their salt in Richmond Park were all on Ks ... loud and proud!

I do agree that they always gave good service ... can't remember a single maintenance task on mine.

@fdegrove - i rode the Eurus on smooth french roads and quite liked them as they were at least stiff and had the campagnolo hubs. silly spokes for mountains though. was almost similarly suckered into a pair of tubular shamals a couple of years back.

we should start a "Ksyrium amnesty" thread where everyone owns up to mis-deeds and can hand in their hoops without fear of reprisals

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